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(May 2016) Total operating expenditures at four Arkansas state departments have increased at average annual rates greater than the Consumer Price Index (CPI) since the last recession ended in mid-2009.  These actual agency expenditures1 increased at annual rates ranging from 3.8% (Community Corrections) to 1.9% (Education Department, Public School Fund) versus 1.5% inflation (CPI):                                                                                     Total Operating Expenditures […]

(April 2016) The Policy Foundation noted more than a decade ago that state spending growth linked to an economic metric such as the Consumer Price Index would save tax dollars. CPI has increased at an average annual rate of 1.5 percent in the economic expansion that started in 2009.  Yet spending increases at higher percentage rates […]

(March 2016) Revised federal data1 show Benton County achieved an all-time Arkansas high (153.2%) in per capita personal income2 in 2012. Arkansas officials have long sought to achieve 100 percent income parity with the U.S.  Benton County, home to public companies Wal-Mart and J.B. Hunt Transport Services has exceeded 100 percent since 1997, according to data revisions from […]

“The most callused aspect of the (Arkansas) education monopoly is that it willingly and deliberately forces children–except those whose parents have wealth–to attend bad schools. And it does so with financial resources taken from parents already struggling financially and at the expense of their ability to choose a better school for their sons and daughters.”  Policy […]

“Boards and commissions have also undergone extraordinary growth since the early seventies when the number hovered around 175. The number of Arkansas boards and commissions is 388…and growing. A closer look at the trend shows that the median year of creation for all Arkansas boards and commissions is 1978, meaning half of them (in the 123 years […]

(October 2015) Boards and Commissions have been described as “low-hanging fruit” in terms of state government reorganization.  A state website lists 119 separate entities that include the words “board” or “commission,”1 though the number could be greater.  A U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this year has caused analysts to question whether some boards and commissions interfere with the […]

“Money is sound when it embodies the same virtues we all try to nurture in our children: honesty, trustworthiness, reliability.” Dr. Judy Shelton, A Guide To Sound Money, (2010) Atlas Economic Research Foundation   (October 2015) The Policy Foundation is celebrating its 20th anniversary as a market-based think tank this year.  The Foundation, as part of the celebration, […]

Summary: The Arkansas Policy Foundation is celebrating its 20th anniversary. The Foundation focuses on fiscal and education policy.  This memo explains the idea that tax rates influence economic decisions about jobs and paychecks, and discusses how several institutions successfully advanced fiscal reform in Washington, D.C., and Arkansas.   (September 2015) The top U.S. individual federal income […]

  Summary:  Sixteen states have school choice programs that provide tax credit scholarships to help students attend K-12 schools, according to the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, an Indianapolis nonprofit.   (August 2015) Arkansas’ first private school choice measure, a voucher program, was enacted earlier this year.  The development has generated interest in school choice programs offered […]

Summary: Arkansas jobs growth trails national and regional averages six years into the recovery.  States without income taxes lead the nation.   (June 2015) Six years after the Great Recession ended, Arkansas payroll employment growth trails the national average, 8.2 to 4.2 percent, a Policy Foundation analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics records show.   BLS […]